My Succraseed arrived and I've been out raking the wooded plot trail....getting what surface rocks the winter heaved up and removing any leaf litter inorder to aid in the sprouting of weed seed...I want to get as much spouting to occur in this warm spell as I can in order to spray down once
These beds were actually planted 2x's last year, in both my mix and then recommended mix from Wht Institute with dismal results....they've been on a liming schedule for a couple of years now and the tilth is good....the shade has been an issue so...also my mix was washed out.... a bit more select cutting has occurred and a few more to go down soon...
I can't work on the other areas I plan on planting because they are still under a few inches of snow[>:]...I'm real anxious to see how this is going to grow...I bought the Beef bank because it contained the HSG that I wanted and clovers...which should do well in a bit more shadier areas ....for the open areas I will tweak the Beefbank with some of my chicory...trifiol and Burnett seed...seems like this snow really doesn't want to co-operate..[&o]

They're deer mix...Sweet spot... cost nearly 2x's as much and contains the same HSG...but with the added chicory..Braccs and trifoil....much more conservative to adjust the Beefbank my self....

The turnip areas are going into forage soybeans instead of buckwheat ...this will fix nitrogen for the late summer over seeding of the Braccs...I'll just have to find a few more new areas for the buckwheat[;)]

Hey the snow finally melted!...I checked the turnip plots and all I can say is WOW....there is barely a spot that doesn't have deer dropping and they are still using them...A few greens are growing from turnips that were too small in fall and survived winter and still a few smaller bulbs and just bottoms of bulbs left...I am definitely planting more turnip plots and expanding the others...I'll have to start a good rotation on them next year and plan summer beans rotating to winter wheat...in older turnip plots and start the newer plots in turnips this year....The guy that is cutting fire wood with me was amazed at the amount of droppings every where in the woods...the branch trimming worked well...they browsed all the buds and I just added them to my ground blinds and added another 100 ft to my brush fence....the deer use both as bedding areas ...for they block the north and some of the west winds...on the fence I left areas around pine trees for them to slip through and they have found them and made trails.

Whats everyone else up to?...We had 15 deer in the field last night....more deer than last year at this time [:)]

Went shed hunting this past weekend with Patriot and we walked one of my SHOT PLOT brassica/turnup plots. Fresh deer tracks and there were quite a few smaller bulbs that the deer never ate last fall. We were wondering if the deer will eat them now, or if they don't taste right to them now that they have been sitting all winter, etc? I'll post some pics later of the bulbs.

Been rainy as of late to soggy to even walk the woods so took these this morning whats left of turnips....found a trail that runs off this plot ..though a sm. stand of poplar into the hard woods leading down the hill to other plots...it was one continuous line of deer droppings for 50ft!...never seen any thing like that....the pic of "pond" depression is right next to plot area...it will remain full until June if the spring is wet....

You and some others have mentioned planting turnips. Any particular type that you're planting and when typically do you plant them? Also turnips typically come back every year .right? One last question: are you planting anything else with the turnips?

I plant my turnips in late Aug...this gives them plenty of good growth before the first frost but not so early they or the rape I plant with them go to seed...you want to avoid that..in the high elevations we seem to get colder earlier...I usually plant buckwheat in the area in the spring...this year It will be soybeans....both these are good soil boosters and aid in less chemical fertilizer needed...and attract all animals.
for price ..my main is purple top mixed with some Barkantforage turnips....pasja and bonar rape seed...mixing and this is just my observations ...lends to the bulbs having more room to grow...for rape doesn't bulb out and the pasja doesn't seem to have as big a bulb...

No they don't usually regrow much...unless the bulbs started out small before winter and weren't eaten...the rape...well that can be a nuisance if it went to seed and isn't sprayed down before spring planting..been there done that...I do have some green growth..that the deer are hitting but still battling perennial weeds and will spray down once before tilling and planting the beans..

I got my first section of Succra seed in the ground yesterday...then the rain didn't come...so I'm praying for a bit this afternoon...otherwise I'll have to count on the next few mornings of heavy frost to keep it moist...we've gone from 60-70 day and 50-55 night temps ...back down to 50-60 and 30-40 nights.....might have a spring after all[:)]....My first spay down didn't touch the timothy grass so I have some dry weather coming up to spray again...got the tractor back so I can start the holes for the fence work I've planned....chicken coop to work on the new chicks arrive soon....just picking away dodging weather
How is everyone else getting along?

I never plant any rye grass of any type since it is so prevalent here in my area and actually grows wild much like blue stem and large prairie grass does . I only plant chicory ,brasicas ,rape ,alsike ,ladino,white and a little red clover , alfalfa ,also forage oats and some corn to leave standing . Here is a pic of part of one of my food plots it has rape,chicory ,the four clovers ,alfalfa ,then on the far end brassicas and rape. Then off to the right of the pic in the fresh dirt area is corn and forage oats . I have 3 such food plots on the farm .Next year there will be four .I will try to go get a few good pics to post up later here.

35 years of hunting deer and more than I can count down and I still learn something new every year! There are no absalutes with Deer or in Deer hunting

OK so I went and grabbed a couple more pics of the food plot in the first pic to show how I layed it out and what was planted where.

The first pic is of a section of the Corn and Oats looking to the was they are mixed together but the corn is in rows.'

The second picture is of The Rape & Brasica mix it on the right of my 7 way mixture .we are looking east of the Corn and Oats. there is a ladder stand in one of the trees on the east end of the plot see if you can see it !!

The next one is of east end of the 7 way mixture plot I am standing about 25 yards strait in front of a ladder stand that is on the right or south of the plot .

And finally the west end of the 7 way mixture food plot there is a giant Honey suckle bush in the food plot and a small cluster of young oaks and there is a ladder stand in a tree at the west end of the food plot as well try to pic it out .This pic is about 125 yards to the west end and I am standing about dead in the middle of the plot .

Enjoy and I hope this helps some one who is going to plant a food plot this year.

On a side note these food plots were planted 2 months ago and the corn and oars planted 2 weeks ago.

35 years of hunting deer and more than I can count down and I still learn something new every year! There are no absalutes with Deer or in Deer hunting